Belleayre, NY 1/1/11

We encountered a very rare weather phenomenon today: a Catskills inversion. While leaving the Thruway to Route 28, the outside temp was 28 degrees. A half hour later in the Belleayre mid-mountain parking lot, the temp was 43. It eventually climbed to the mid 50s -- I was skiing in a vest with no gloves on NEW YEAR'S DAY!


You would've guessed that it was the second week of April:



The best skiing of the day was in Belleayre's many mogul sections, which were soft as could be. Here's Bryan finishing the day on Belleayre Run's green-circle baby bumps.

Looks fantastic.  That first pic does seem a little out of place at Christmas.

Still... a good day is a good day...

Any signs of the Belleayre drama from last month?

Does anybody know how the Catskill region fared today? I know we had rain in the forecast but at least in the city we didn't really get any.

rfarren wrote

Does anybody know how the Catskill region fared today? I know we had rain in the forecast but at least in the city we didn't really get any.

James could make a better estimation, but here's my armchair guess.  

The r**n was basically a non-factor. Like you said there wasn't much. But Saturday and to some degree Sunday was a slushfest. Rain or not, it got very wet. Coverage will be reasonable but surfaces will be hard. It doesn't look like there was enough lake effect to make much of a difference last night.

Oddly this is the first day in a month I haven't received Belleayre's email conditions report at 6am.  Last nights estimate for today from Bell:

MACHINE GROOMED LOOSE GRANULAR, LOOSE GRANULAR WITH MOGULS AND HARD PACK . THIN COVER.

XCOUNTRY TRAILS ARE CLOSED.